Faith Based Organizations

Promising Retention Practices of the Christian Health Association of Malawi

In order to explain the Christian Health Association of Malawi’a (CHAM) approaches to HRH, this paper gives an overview of CHAM especially its operational structure; reviews HRH data from affiliated institutions; looks at elements faced by CHAM with regards to retention; and analyzes what CHAM has done to promote retention of health workers. [adapted from author]

HIV and AIDS Treatment: FBOs Getting Involved

This issue of Contact has been published to give practical examples of how treatment can be made more accessible by faith-based organizations (FBOs) and FBO health care institutions particularly in resource-limited settings. [from author]

Health Systems Strengthening: Focus on Pharmaceutical Human Resources

This edition of Contact magazine focuses on pharmaceutical human resources, who are crucial for the delivery of quality health care. Church health systems in particular have to take up the challenge of attracting, motivating and retraining qualified pharmaceutical human resources. [from author]

Partnerships with Faith-Based Organizations to Expand Access to Family Planning

This brief outlines collaborations with Catholic, Protestant and Muslim faith-based organizations (FBOs) to expand family planning options to underserved populations while helping FBOs increase services to their communities. [from author]

Understanding Intrinsic Motivation and Performance Factors for Public Sector and Faith-based Facility Health Workers in Uganda

This study in Uganda aimed to untangle the intrinsic motivation, retention, and performance factors for health workers faith-based facilities compared to public sector health workers. [adapted from publisher]

Why Do Health Workers in Rural Tanzania Prefer Public Sector Employment

This article discusses health workers’ preferences for workplace and their perceptions and experiences of the differences in working conditions in the public health sector versus the church-run health facilities in Tanzania. The broader aim is to generate knowledge that can add to debates on health sector management in low-income contexts. [from abstract]

Hotline HRH March 2012

This edition of Hotline, an HRH newletter focused on the needs of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in Africa, highlights resources, trainings and workshops, articles of interest and other information for FBO HRH pracitioners.

Hotline HRH February 2012

This edition of Hotline, an HRH newletter focused on the needs of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in Africa, highlights resources, trainings and workshops, articles of interest and other information for FBO HRH pracitioners.

Faith-Based Organizations

This brief presents an overview of the issue of FBOs and human resources for health along with suggested actions, key considerations, and resources. [from publisher]

Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Ghana: Feasibility of a Faith-Based Organizational Approach

This study examined the feasibility of using community health workers to implement cardiovascular disease prevention programs within faith-based organizations in Accra, Ghana. [from abstract]

Hotline HRH January 2012

This edition of Hotline, an HRH newletter focused on the needs of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in Africa, highlights resources, trainings and workshops, articles of interest and other information for FBO HRH pracitioners.

Hotline HRH December 2011

This edition of Hotline, an HRH newletter focused on the needs of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in Africa, highlights resources, trainings and workshops, articles of interest and other information for FBO HRH pracitioners.

Is Worker Effort Higher in Church-Based than in Government Health Facilities?

This brief reports the main results from a study aiming to compare worker effort levels in church-based and government health clinics in Tanzania. [from author]

Human Resource Challenges in Faith-Based Organizations

This issue of Contact is dedicated to HRH in faith-based organizations and includes articles such as: Formulating Policy for Human Resources in Health; Human Resources Crisis in Christian Health Associations; Health Worker Migration and Retention in Africa; New Economic Models for Faith-based Health Care; The Challenge of Retaining Health Workers in Lesotho; adn Building Capacity through Health Worker Training. [adapted from author]

Faith-Based Organizations: Using HR Management to Support Health Workers

This issue of CapacityPlus Voices highlights the role of human resources management for FBOs in the health sector. Dr. Samuel Mwenda, ACHAP chairman and Christian Health Association of Kenya general secretary, and Doris Mwarey, ACHAP’s regional HR specialist, share their views and explain how countries are learning from each other. [from author]

Health Programs in Faith-Based Organizations: Are They Effective?

This literature review examined the published literature on health programs in faith-based organizations to determine the effectiveness of these programs. [from author]

Faith in Action: Examining the Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Addressing HIV/AIDS

Faith-based organizations are integral partners in the global response to the AIDS crisis, often comprising sizable percentages of total health-care capacity in a country or region. This study aimed to better understand the perceptions and priorities of these key members of the global public health community about the past, present and future roles of faith-based organizations in AIDS prevention, treatment and support. [from preface]

Building Common Foundations: the World Health Organization and Faith-Based Organizations in Primary Healthcare

This report is intended to assist in the process of rejuvenating dialogue and partnership with FBOs in the face of widespread health challenges in communities around the world, not least of which is HIV/AIDS. The revival of the primary healthcare model within WHO underscores that if this framework is to be promoted as a more sustainable system of health servicing and delivery, then the inclusion of FBOs will add greater potential for breadth and effectiveness. [from summary]

Part of the Solution: Faith-Based Responses to HIV and AIDS in Africa

This chapter of “Developing Pathways and Partnerships” outlines the dimensions of and describes the characteristics of FBO HIV/AIDS initiatives, utilizing where possible evidence from published studies. It explains why FBO initiatives remain poorly understood and receive insufficient support from government sectors and development organizations. It concludes with lessons learned in mainstreaming FBO HIV/AIDS initiatives, suggesting ways in which external agencies can strengthen faith-based HIV/AIDS initiatives and help them align with accepted best practices and public-health strategies.

How Can Faith-Based Organizations Help Address the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Central America?

This research brief outlines a study done Belize, Honduras and Guatemala on the current and potential future role of faith-based organizations in HIV prevention and care. [adapted from author]

Role of Faith-Based Organziations in HIV Prevention and Care in Central America

This report summarizes the findings of an exploratory, qualitative study of FBO involvement in HIV/AIDS in three Central American countries hard hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic: Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. It provides an overview of the epidemics in each country studied and the range of HIV prevention and care activities conducted by FBOs. Further, it discusses the facilitators of these activities, as well as the challenges to FBO involvement in HIV prevention and care. [from preface]

Training Health Workers in Africa: Documenting Faith-Based Organizations' Contributions

This technical brief illustrates the breadth of pre-service and in-service trainings offered by FBOs, with a focus on nursing and midwifery pre-service training in Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. [from introduction]

Strengthening the Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Human Resources for Health Initiatives

As the global community wrestles with human resources for health issues, faith-based organizations (FBOs) are a vital source of health worker production and promising practices. This brief describes how during the past five years the Capacity Project has worked to increase the number of countries in which FBOs are building national capacity in HRH. [adapted from author]

Human Resources-Geographical Information Systems Data Development and Systems Implementation for the Christian Social Services Commission of Tanzania: Final Report

Current estimates indicate that between 30% and 70% of health care services in Africa are operated by faith-based organizations. However, these resources are not effectively integrated into national health information systems. While most partners providing health care in sub-Saharan Africa agree that FBOs play an important role in providing health services, there are few comprehensive data about the scope and scale of their contribution. This document details a project to collect facility location and personnel information to support the mapping and database development processes.

African Christian Health Associations: Joining Forces for Improving Human Resources for Health

This document details the efforts of the Christian Health Association to strengthen sub-Saharan Africa’s national health sectors by mitigating the the HR shortage. [adapted from executive summary]

Quest for Quality: Interventions to Improve Human Resources for Health among Faith-Based Organizations

Traditionally, faith-based health organisations have been important health care providers in many remote and other under-serviced areas. Currently, these facilities bear the brunt of the competition for scarce human resources. It is important for faith-based organisations to learn from recent experiences and from the creative ways in which colleagues seek to retain their health workers and improve quality of human resource management. [from preface]

Challenges of Retaining Health Workers in the PNFP Sector: the Case of Uganda Catholic Health Network

This paper looks at the HRH crisis as experienced by the Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau network giving the trend, examining the reasons, the destinations of attritional cases and what the network is trying to do to improve human resource stability. [from abstract]

Faith-Based Models for Improving Maternal and Newborn Health

This document explores some FBO health networks and facility-based services in Uganda and Tanzania. A pilot project in the Kasese District of Uganda illustrates how protestant, catholic and muslim health care providers and communities can work together from household-to-hospital levels to improve health outcomes. [from author]

Key Piece of the Puzzle: Faith Based Health Services in Sub-Saharan Africa

Faith-based organizations are a key link in the sustainability of accessible health services. In many African countries, they have been providing health care for over 60 years and in some, such as Kenya, for a century or more.

Examining the Actions of Faith-Based Organizations and Their Influence on HIV/AIDS-Related Stigma: a Case Study of Uganda

Stigma and discrimination are widely recognized as factors that fuel the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Uganda’s success in combating HIV/AIDS has been attributed to a number of factors, including political, religious and societal engagement and openness – actors that combat stigma and assist prevention efforts. Our study aimed to explore perceptions of Uganda-based key decision-makers about the past, present and optimal future roles of FBOs in HIV/AIDS work, including actions to promote or dissuade stigma and discrimination. [from abstract]